Big Ten Basketball: 10 key questions for the league entering 2021-22 season

Can Iowa be elite from behind the arc?

The fact that Luka Garza is currently holding his own with the Detroit Pistons in the Summer League is not the sole reason the Iowa Hawkeyes are going to have difficulty repeating as the eleventh highest shooting team from behind the arc.  It is without question that Garza did attract a number of double teams as defending guards would double-down into the paint, then have to recover on the shooter after the kick-out. The greatest obstacle to the Hawkeyes achieving similar success from the arc is the fact that their leading three-point shooter, is the only player in the Hawkeyes’ top five that is returning.

Jordan Bohannon was the only player to average more than two-and-a-half made three-pointers per game, the next four are no longer with the Hawkeyes thus leaving Coonor McCafferty and Keagan Murray as the next best threats. McCaffery and Murray barely connected on more than one three-pointer combined.

During the 2020-21 season, the Hawkeyes tallied up a record of 16-3 when they connected on 10 or more three-pointers and played even basketball going 6-6 when they were successful on fewer than ten. Head Coach Fran McCaffery is well aware of this and is more than capable of running a system that will suit his players, as opposed to trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and continue to be dependant upon the long-distance shooting. With Garza gone, however, if they are not going to be elite from behind the arc, where are they going to be elite?